


Enter, Stage Right

by CatKing_Catkin



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Before The Storm Episode 2: Brave New World, Behind the Scenes, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Introspection, Puppy Love, Scene Expansion, Social Anxiety, Talking, Therapy, a lot of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 08:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatKing_Catkin/pseuds/CatKing_Catkin
Summary: A closer look at the development of Nathan Prescott and Samantha Myers' relationship. How did things go from Samantha being encouraged to encourage Nathan to the two of them sitting and reading together? What happened after she stayed late to give him another round of applause?After yet another bad encounter with his father, Nathan is just about ready to give the whole play up as an inevitable humiliation for him. Fortunately, at the last minute, he finds himself with an unexpected ally who seems to be willing to do whatever she can to help. And Nathan lets himself hope that she means it, in the same way that a drowning man hopes that a rope will hold his weight - because sometimes, you just don't have a choice.He doesn't even realize until much later that he'd never asked her name.





	Enter, Stage Right

It wasn’t the first time he’d had to keep an eye on Victoria after she’d passed out drugged or drunk – though Nathan knew that she hadn’t been planning on either tonight. If he found out who had done this to her, he’d…he’d…

…hah. It was almost funny thinking he could anything much in retaliation to anyone, even in her defense. In terms of resources, Nathan had his money and he had his name. But both seemed like they were doing just as much harm as good, lately.

Still, tonight had been…a good night. It had been amazing, actually, compared to his earlier fears. Nathan liked acting, he really did. He liked the drama club, much better than the football team he’d only been pressured to join just to add a letterman’s jacket to his list of family honors. He just knew that a lot of people hated him way too much to ever see him as anyone else, even up on a stage.

He’d liked being Caliban – he’d liked losing himself in the twisted form and the dark words and, admittedly, the fun insults that went along with them. He’d gotten Hayden to take his picture before washing the makeup off, because Nathan had a feeling he’d never look that awesome ever again.

Hayden had been happy to do so, and had invited Nathan out for post-play pancakes along with the rest of the currently conscious and still-present cast – Rachel had slipped off somewhere almost as soon as the lights dimmed for the last time. Still, that had left a lot of people actually wanting and asking to hang out with him, people he’d never previously dreamed he could happily interact with before this club and this play.

That had been a good feeling to realize, and only made Nathan more certain that the best course of action would be to turn Hayden down. He knew his limits – _limits_ , the thing his therapist kept trying to tell him it was okay to have, and which Nathan was slowly managing to believe him about. He knew his limits, and he had just about hit them when it came to people tonight, especially a lot of exuberant people who were likely to make a lot of noise. Better to just take his bow gracefully and quit while he was ahead, as opposed to giving himself the opportunity to get wound up or overtired and say something wrong and ruin things again.

“Sorry, man, raincheck,” was all he’d said out loud. “I should keep an eye on Victoria. And I can do some more to get the set down.”

“It’ll keep,” Hayden had answered, waving a hand dismissively. But then his expression had softened, and he’d clapped Nathan quite companionably on the back, even if Nathan had still stumbled at the unexpectedness of it all. “But, guess it’s good you’re looking out for her. Catch you later, man.”

“You too.”

It had been a good night. Even losing himself in the work was soothing, in its own way – simple, manual labor, focused and controlled, the sort of thing his dad would pitch a fit to see him engaging in. He could watch his own fingers as they packed up costumes or his feet as he wheeled set pieces off the stage, and stop having to worry about watching his own thoughts so hard instead.

It had been a good night, and Nathan knew that he owed that fact entirely to one person in particular.

*  *  *

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

_Nathan heard footsteps coming nearer – too light to be his dad, but too purposeful to just be passing by. One of them had followed him._

_He hoped it was Price. He really hoped it was Price. He could_ fight _Price, and come out on top. He could get his wits back, that way. He could remember what it was like to be a_ Prescott _, to be_ strong _and in control and on top and uncaring._

_He hoped it wasn’t the other one. He couldn’t read her, couldn’t predict her. She looked like the meekest mouse to ever hide in the walls, but the way she’d gone from zero to fuck you on Drew North the other day…_

_“Nathan?”_

_And so because that was just the way his night was doomed to go, just like he’d warned his dad, of course it was the other one._

_“Fuck,” he swore, with feeling. He could see her looming out of the corner of his eye, from where he was huddled on the grass in the shadow of one of the bigger lighting rigs._

_“S-Sorry,” she stammered. “I know you probably want your space, but I just…I wanted to see if there’s anything I could do to help? After…I mean…you…”_

_“What the fuck do you think you can do to help?” He meant to snarl it, to drive her back and away, before she could see how red his eyes were and the way the threat of tears wouldn’t fade no matter how hard he tried to blink them away. But he didn’t even have the strength for that much, there and then._

_Nathan heard how…tired he sounded. He heard how he didn’t sound like himself at all.  He made to put his face in his hands and then stopped himself just in time, before tipping his head back to look at the smoke-filled sky instead. “Just back off, why don’t you? Mind your own goddamn business.”_

_She could go back to her seat and laugh at him later, like everyone else would._

_“Okay,” she said, and he thought he saw her twisting her hands in front of herself. Just like he’d used to do, without even thinking about it, until his dad had made it a point of rapping him on the knuckles whenever he caught Nathan at it. Her dad probably didn’t do that._

_Was it better to have a dad who could afford to buy a dorm or a dad who could afford not to be an asshole?_

_“But, um, I just wanted to let you know before I go that I’ll be cheering for you! I know you’ve been working really hard on this, and…and I know you’re going to be great! I always thought you’d be a great actor!”_

_And suddenly Nathan couldn’t breathe._

_She sounded so sincere, as she turned to go. He’d been carrying this fear around in his chest all damn day but she sounded so_ sincere _. All this time she kept stepping into his business, always with that meek, soft, hopeful little smile. What the hell was her game? What did she hope to get out of this, out of him? He really didn’t know. He really couldn’t read her at all._

_There, teetering on the edge of a full-blown fucking meltdown and what was sure to be one of the most humiliating moments of his life – only there did Nathan let himself believe that this might not be such a bad thing. He wondered if this was how drowning men felt when you threw them a rope – you believed that it would hold your weight because you didn’t have a choice._

_“W-Wait,” he said, and his voice sounded raw and pathetic when he forced it above a whisper._

_She looked back, just in time to fumble to catch the key he threw at her. “My dorm room,” he said, forcing the words out as best he could. “There’s…there’s an IPod. I need it.”_

_She looked from the keys to him and back again. Then she had the decency to catch on quick, and he saw her smile through the shadows. “Got it! I’ll be right back!” And she turned around and set off at a light jog, back towards the dorm rooms._

_Rationally, Nathan knew that he might never see that dorm key again. But he let himself hope. He didn’t exactly have many other options right now. He tried to remember what his therapist had said, about ways to handle his runaway emotions. It was possible to identify negative emotions, pin them down like butterflies. And once you did, it was good to identify a way to act the opposite the way your brain was screaming at you to do. Doing so was supposed to help twofold. First, it was supposed to help you remember what good habits actually were. And second, it was a way to actually feel stronger, a way to give the middle finger to the screaming demons itching at the back of your skull._

_His therapist had actually used the phrase “give the middle finger to.” Dude was cool, for a white-coated nerd._

_Contrariness and rebellion had always felt good. He’d never had the idea before that session to turn that impulse against his own broken self. And he’d been surprised to realize that, slowly but surely, it had been…helping._

_He could remember what hope felt like._

_That grew harder as time ticked on, of course. Nathan replayed the walk from his dorm room and back here over and over again in his mind, counting steps obsessively, knowing it was obsessive, unable to stop himself. She should be back any minute any minute any minute._

_Nathan’s heart stuttered in his chest as he saw the lights coming up out of the corner of his eye. He bit back a whimper as he heard Mister Keaton calling the cast to order. He considered running – just bolting without a word somewhere isolated and safe where he wouldn’t hear them laughing at him. The cast would be pissed, but they’d be pissed at him anyway once his cue was called. What did it matter?_

_Nathan went to group up anyway. Maybe just because it was less distance to walk._

_His body didn’t feel like it belonged to him. It was like he was watching himself move from an inch behind his own eyes. He knew the feeling well. He had had some practice at just_ getting through it _even before his therapist tried to teach him actually healthy ways to do so. You just became a robot, a program, a thing. You just moved where and said what you were told to. No thought required. It worked, even if it was always hard to start feeling again later. Sometimes that wasn’t so bad, though._

_Mr. Keaton was saying something that was probably meant to be encouraging. Nathan could hear it, but it was like his ears and his brain weren’t talking. The tone of voice still helped, a little bit. Mr. Keaton was cool. He’d probably even try to act like he wasn’t disappointed when Nathan fucked this all up._

_He put his hand in a circle with the rest of the class before they prepared to break up and get to business like this was a football field. The cast was cool. He’d liked having an excuse to hang out with them that left minimal chances for them to irreparably get on one another’s nerves. Nathan even thought he saw Dana casting a worried glance at him out of the corner of her eye. God, he wished Victoria was conscious. He wished he knew who had drugged her so he could do something worse to them. But if Victoria was conscious she would act like this was no big deal and she’d act it so hard that Nathan would believe it, just like he could really_ believe _he was Caliban when he was having a good day and could actually focus and make this work and damn it this was not going to work._

_Mr. Keaton clapped his hands for order. Everyone started off towards the stage as the first bars of the music started up, there to await their cues. Nathan swallowed – the dryness in his throat was the only thing he could feel, in that moment. He made himself start off after them._

_Then he felt something else – someone grabbed his hand. Nathan did a full body flinch and whirled around, yanking his hand away in one motion, and it was only then that his eyes decided to tell his brain that_ she _was back. The girl. The other one._

_He didn’t know her name. Was he only just realizing that now?”_

_“Sorry!” she said, stepping back and holding up her free hand. “I didn’t mean to scare you. And, and I’m sorry I took so long. You’re room, it’s just…well…”_

_“It’s a mess,” Nathan finished for her. His voice still sounded worn out and tired and pathetic, but he let himself believe that it sounded all of those things a little bit less. Especially when she smiled. Especially when she held out his Ipod._

_“Anyway, here you go!”_

_Without further preamble, Nathan took it from her, jabbed the earbuds in his ears, and scrolled through his music until he found the right playlist. From there, it was just a matter of jabbing a button and…yes…_

_Sweet relief._

_He didn’t know why whale songs worked. His therapist said that was okay, as long as they did work. But just like that, for one blessed moment, the world fell away. There was just the beautiful rise and the soothing fall of ancient music, like if the motion of ocean waves was turned into sound. There was just him, and the world was still, and his head was quiet._

_When thoughts finally did return to fill the emptiness, they did so slowly and in order. He had to get to the stage. Nathan opened his eyes, and she was the first thing he saw as he did so. She was smiling. He couldn’t quite make himself smile back, not yet. But he did remove one earbud, just so he could hear himself mumble, “Thanks.”_

_“I’m glad I could help,” she said. “Is…is there anything else I can do?”_

_He shook his head._

_“Okay. Well, good luck!” And then she turned and hurried back to her seat. Nathan turned and hurried to catch up to the rest of the cast. His cue wasn’t for a bit of time, especially not considering that they’d have to wait for Price to fumble her way through Juliet’s speech. Nathan used that bit of time to turn his newly sharpened, temporarily cooperative thoughts towards getting into character. It felt good. Caliban could say everything he wanted to say to the world, and far more eloquently than Nathan would ever be capable of._

_When he skulked out onto the stage, it was like he could feel a few assholes in the audience drawing breath. Getting ready to heckle. But they saw something that made them stay quiet. Something in his eyes and in his painted face that they didn’t want to interrupt or cross._

_It was a moment Nathan would remember and exult in for the rest of his life._

*  *  *

The sets were, if not fully struck, then at least off the stage, out of the elements, and covered safely by tarps. The costumes were all hung up, and those he had managed to wheel back to the drama club room. Nathan planned to start stacking up the audience chairs, and after that he probably would have reached the limits of what he was capable of alone.

He sauntered out from behind the stage, staring as he did so at the distant glow of the forest fire in the distance. Beyond the sound of the wind, the night was quiet. Even the bugs were laying low with that fire still burning.

So it was certainly quiet enough for him to hear the sound of someone starting to clap.

Nathan looked around, and there she was, sitting in one of the empty chairs in the front row. She was clapping and, as she saw him looking, she got to her feet and smiled.

This time, Nathan could smile back with ease. That made her look just…downright delighted. Which was both a pretty cool reaction to get, and a very good look on her.

…Nathan suddenly wished he still had the makeup on, and was glad for the shadows to hide his face anyway. He walked towards her, and that part was surprisingly easy.

“Hey,” he said. “Um…what are you doing here? I mean, it’s not like you can’t be here, it’s just…have you been here this whole time?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Oh, don’t worry! I wasn’t bored, or anything. I was just…unwinding. I like the quiet. Especially after a big show.”

“Oh yeah? M-Me too.” He cursed himself internally for stammering. It was a bad habit that he hadn’t figured out how to break yet, even with his dad’s insistence.

Still, she seemed at ease. He had to be doing something right.

“Was this your first time performing?” she asked brightly.

“Yeah. Mr. Keaton only just got the drama club back together this year.”

“Oh, well, I hope you do more shows! If you want to, I mean. I think you’ve really got a knack for Shakespeare.”

“You do?” Nathan tried not to sound too hopeful, but…what would be wrong with being hopeful? It was just that this was the first time he could remember that he’d been told he had a knack for anything much besides _being_ Nathan Prescott, and he’d never really felt like that was much of a talent. The closest anyone ever came was Victoria. She’d tell him he had a good eye for shots, but that was as far as she ever felt comfortable praising anyone where photography was concerned. He got that, and didn’t begrudge her.

Still. _You have a knack_. There was something…solid about that. It was spoken like a fact. He had a talent. That was something to hold on to.

Before Nathan knew it, he was sitting down on one of the chairs left in front of the stage. The girl sat down next to him without hesitation. Then he smiled at her again. That felt pretty great, too. “I mean, I’ve never read any of his other stuff. Thought it always sounded like pretty boring shit when we went over it in class.”

He had a flash of wondering if admitting to slacking off in class would be a bad move in front of a girl like her – the kind of girl who looked like she wouldn’t even mind being called a bookworm. But she didn’t even blink, didn’t even judge.

“I mean, it really depends on what you read. Shakespeare wrote a lot of different plays, and some of them are really different. I think it sucks that all we ever get exposed to in English class is ‘Romeo and Juliet’! Have you ever read ‘Coriolanus’? I think you’d really like it.”

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s about a famous Roman general during a time of war with the Volscians. After a great victory, he’s pushed into politics against his wishes, and despite his attempts to win the love of the common people he’s opposed by some scheming Senators.”

“That…actually sounds kind of metal.” And more than a little relatable besides. He wondered if that was why she’d suggested it. If so, she’d been subtle enough about it that he was able to not mind much. Or maybe that was just the emotional exhaustion talking.

“I’ve got a lot of his plays in my room. Some of them are even in an omnibus! You can borrow them…if you want…” She looked down, twisting her fingers in her lap, even…blushing a little? Nathan had to hastily look away when he felt himself blushing, too. God, they were both a mess. He found himself chuckling faintly at the thought, but immediately regretted it when she looked embarrassed.

“S-Sorry!” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was pressuring you, or anything!”

“It’s okay!” he managed to insist, almost before she finished apologizing. “I just meant, that was…cool of you to offer. If you’re not using ‘em, yeah, I’ll check them out.”

“Great!” She brightened up immediately, and the half-formed knot in his stomach eased. “Oh, and that reminds me…” She fumbled in her pocket, and pulled out a key – his dorm key. “I was so focused on getting you your Ipod that I forgot this was still in my pocket. Here!”

She held it out to him. He reached out to take it. Their fingers brushed, and all he could think of for a moment was that her hand was so warm.

Then the moment passed, and he closed his fingers around the key to hide their shaking, and replaced it in his pocket. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome. Um, you can swing by whenever, I know you’re probably still busy packing up. Can I help? Sorry, I should have offered earlier.”

“It’s okay. I’m pretty much done.” And that was true. Nathan was pretty sure that he’d already done more than his fair share on the cleanup front. Everyone else could handle the rest once they got back from pancakes. He was just about to take her up on her offer of raiding her play stash when Nathan remembered what else was keeping him here, however, and he winced apologetically. “But I should hang out until Victoria wakes up. She hit the pre-performance celebration pretty hard.” He would never, ever let it get out that someone had drugged her. Victoria didn’t need a reputation for _vulnerability_.

“Oh, gotcha. W-Well, that makes sense! You’re a good friend.”

Nathan ran a hand anxiously through his hair – a nervous fidget. But one of his more harmless ones. “Not that great. I mean…I still didn’t ask your name.”

She looked genuinely surprised at this, and Nathan felt genuinely embarrassed all over again. He ducked his head, staring down at his feet next to hers’. Of all the things to overlook, that had to be a big one. He couldn’t believe now that he’d never noticed her before.

“Samantha,” she said, and ducked her head to meet his gaze so he would see her smile. “My name’s Samantha. It’s…really great to meet you, Nathan.”

In the end, they did go out for pancakes after Victoria woke up and demanded them. Three wasn’t always a crowd, and that wasn’t always a bad thing.


End file.
